Part of remodeling is to make necessary repairs around the house and part of it is to increase the resale value of it. However, there’s also a third component: looking into the future and anticipating trends before they arrive. These types of remodeling projects are useful because you’re completing them before they’re hot, which means you can get quality, specialist contractors without having to battle other people for them. As well, the trendier a project is, the higher the prices tend to be because demand is higher. With that in mind, here are some remodeling projects you should be looking at now instead of later.

Boost Your Curb Appeal Now and Reap the Rewards Later

Curb appeal is making your home look nice from the outside, and can be as simple as making sure grass is lush and edged nicely to as complex as all-out landscaping. For most homeowners, though, curb appeal is somewhere in between. If you want your home to look hot in 10 years’ time, starting now is a necessity because perennial plants take years to reach their full maturity. Here are some quick tips for making sure curb appeal looks good in the future:

Read the information tag on perennials to check for their mature growth (e.g. a Regal Splendor hosta will grow about 2.5ft tall and roughly 3ft wide) and space them as though they’re already fully grown. This helps the root systems to grow uninterrupted and ensures the plants won’t be crowded once they are fully grown.

Anticipate what other plants will be like in the future and plant accordingly. For example, if you have young trees on your property — and this may seem like an obvious point to make — they’ll grow bigger and leafier in 10 years’ time. But this self-evident fact goes much further than that: if you have trees that’ll get bigger and leafier, consider how your lawn and other plants will react with the increased shade and root system. This means it’s not a good idea to place sun-loving plants, like phlox or lavender, at the bases of trees.

Try and seed your lawn instead of putting in sod rolls. While sod rolls are so much easier to install (all you have to do is lay them down and roll them flat), they don’t “take” as easy as seeds, which are also less expensive. Seeding your lawn is a lot trickier, but it’s also a much better chance of getting a true and good lawn.

Monitor your soil carefully and take care of weeds. Nobody likes to deal with weeds, but the more on top of it you are now, the less you’ll be bothered by them in the future. Laying down flagstone or something similar can provide a barrier for weeds, but pulling them out by the root is the best way. And in terms of soil, regularly check the moisture and pH of it to ensure it’s going in a good direction. Sometimes, leaks can happen under the earth — something which can devalue your home — and you want to know about it sooner rather than later.

Insulate Your Home

Climate change is looking more and more volatile, which means we’ll get more super cold winters, more thunderstorms, more heat waves, and gusty winds. It doesn’t matter if you agree with global warming or not, but the weather effects will affect your home. Do the nitty gritty now and insulate your house, so if/when the weather gets crazy, you’ll be sitting pretty while other homeowners are scrambling to do the same.

Go Solar

You don’t have to live entirely off the grid, but going in that direction a little bit will help you, as well as cut down on yearly costs. Homeowners in the future want to know that the houses they buy will be fairly self-sustainable, and installing solar heating or water recycling is one of the best ways to go. If going solar is too expensive (it does pay off eventually, and you get awesome tax breaks in the meantime), then consider a tankless water heater instead. They work by heating the water only when the hot-water tap is turned on, and save you a lot of money on your bills.

Amy Wright

Amy Wright is the Lead Editor of Remodeling Central. When she isn't playing with her dogs she is trying to remodel a classic Chicago style brownstone with her husband.